In the wake of the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the administrative state, Project 2025 emerges as a detailed and strategic plan aimed at reprogramming the U.S. government to advance archconservative goals. Spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, this initiative represents a significant shift in conservative strategy from deconstruction to aggressive reconfiguration of the administrative apparatus.
Historical Context and Conservative Shifts
Upon taking office in 2017, Donald Trump announced his administration’s regulatory policy with Executive Order 13771, which mandated that for every new regulation introduced, two existing ones had to be repealed. This move aimed at reducing regulatory burdens but faced significant challenges due to the rigidity of the Administrative Procedure Act. Although the Trump administration reduced regulatory outputs, their efforts to dismantle existing rules were largely thwarted by federal courts.
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s call for the “deconstruction of the administrative state” encapsulated the conservative approach at the time. However, over the years, the conservative movement has shifted its strategy. Recognizing the administrative state’s potential to further conservative agendas, the movement now seeks to harness and redirect this arm of the government, particularly to advance social issues.
The Blueprint: Project 2025
Project 2025, articulated in the 920-page Mandate for Leadership document, lays out an extensive plan to transform the U.S. administrative state. This plan is designed to establish a conservative dominance by reprogramming federal agencies to support archconservative rule. Key components of the plan include:
Politicizing the Bureaucracy
One of Project 2025’s primary objectives is to create a more politicized bureaucracy. This involves several tactics:
- Schedule F: This policy reclassifies thousands of career government employees, stripping them of protections and making them “at-will” employees. This aims to ensure that public servants adhere strictly to political directives, even at the expense of their professional judgments.
- Targeting Security Clearances: Policies that would make it easier to suspend or revoke security clearances of career staff in national security agencies, effectively sidelining those who do not align with the administration’s ideology.
- Reassignment and Relocation: Members of the Senior Executive Service who resist the new directives could be reassigned to irrelevant positions or relocated to distant geographic locations.
Empowering Extremists and Outlier Viewpoints
Project 2025 emphasizes empowering loyalists over professionals:
- Selective Hiring and Clearance Assignments: Agencies could bypass competitive hiring processes to appoint individuals based solely on loyalty to the president. Political appointees would also have more discretion in assigning security clearances.
- Inclusion of Dissent in National Security Briefings: Mandate for Leadership recommends ensuring that the President’s Daily Briefing includes dissenting views, but within a context that undermines the independence of career intelligence officers.
Outsourcing and Privatization
The plan advocates for extensive outsourcing to advance ideological goals:
- Privatizing the Energy Information Administration (EIA): This could lead to biased energy analyses favoring conservative policy positions.
- Dismantling NOAA’s Forecasting Capabilities: Outsourcing weather forecasting could result in a two-tier system, disadvantaging poorer regions and exacerbating economic and racial inequities.
- Humanitarian Assistance and Faith-Based Organizations: Shifting control from global NGOs to conservative Christian organizations aims to indoctrinate aid recipients in conservative ideologies.
Weaponizing Federal Grantmaking
Mandate for Leadership includes recommendations to use federal grants to push conservative policies:
- Department of Education: Public schools receiving federal assistance would be prohibited from contracting with companies that recognize transgender pronouns.
- Health and Human Services: The focus would shift to abstinence-only programs under Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants.
- Environmental Protection Agency: Political appointees would oversee grant determinations, sidelining career staff.
Expanding Enforcement Powers
Project 2025 envisions a more aggressive use of agency enforcement powers:
- Department of Justice (DOJ): Increased presidential control over DOJ could lead to targeted enforcement against political enemies.
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS): Expanded powers for ICE agents and broader geographic scope for expedited removals of noncitizens.
- Insurrection Act: Plans to use this law for domestic enforcement beyond border control, potentially quelling protests and unrest.
Limiting Congressional Oversight
The initiative seeks to diminish congressional oversight capabilities:
- Federal Vacancies Reform Act Manipulation: Installing political appointees without Senate confirmation to carry out official agency business.
- Controlled Communications: Agencies would defer to the White House on communications with Congress, limiting the flow of information to legislative bodies.
Project 2025 represents a fundamental shift in how the administrative state is utilized. By transforming it from a democratic mechanism into a tool for advancing conservative ideologies, the plan poses significant risks to the principles of democratic governance, transparency, and accountability.
The comprehensive and methodical nature of Project 2025 highlights a strategic effort to reshape the U.S. administrative state to support a conservative agenda. By politicizing the bureaucracy, outsourcing critical functions, weaponizing grantmaking, and limiting oversight, the plan seeks to entrench archconservative rule for decades. The implications of such a transformation are profound, raising critical questions about the future of democratic governance in the United States.